Tom Holland retirement quote resurfaces as he turns 30 ahead of 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' release

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tom Holland’s past comment about his retirement from the Spider-Man franchise after turning 30 has resurfaced as the actor celebrated his milestone birthday on June 1.

In 2021, when ‘The Impossible’ star was in his mid-20s, he had reportedly said, “If I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.”

Tom Holland quips he won't do 'Spider-Man' movies after 37

Now, since his new 'Spider-Man' movie ‘Brand New Day’ is coming, Holland has addressed his earlier statement and clarified that he might have said it “to create fear”.

“It’s funny, I saw that quote pop up somewhere recently and I kind of reeled, because I was trying to remember what I meant. I think the point of it is that I would love to pass the baton on, and I haven’t achieved that yet,” Holland said in a new interview with GQ magazine,” before jokingly adding, “So maybe I need to change the quote to 37.”

Tom Holland claims 'playing Spider-Man has been the joy of my life'

Further into the interview, Holland came up with another explanation of his previous statement as he stated, “I could also have been trying to leverage Sony and scare them into thinking I wasn’t going to do 'Spider-Man 4' now that I had a new deal on the horizon.”

“So I don’t know what it could have been. It could’ve been part of a strategy to create fear,” he noted.

But at the end, Holland asserted, “I think the truth is that playing Spider-Man has been the joy of my life. I now kind of stand on the plinth of like, I’ll do it for as long as they’ll have me.”

Elsewhere during the interview, the BAFTA Award winner talked about his current career trajectory as he will not only be seen in the new Spider-Man movie but also in ‘The Odyssey’ by Christopher Nolan.

“It feels like the beginning of the next chapter of my life. I really feel like a young man now. I have so much amazing stuff happening in my personal life to take me through to the rest of my life, and I feel like I have a new perspective on where I want to exist in Hollywood,” he shared.

Tom Holland acted as a real-life hero for Spider-Man

This came years after it was reported how Holland acted as a real-life hero and brought Disney and Sony on the same page to keep his Spider-Man in the MCU.

“Tom reached out to folks who worked for me, ‘Could I please have Bob’s email address or phone number?’ Of course I’m very protected and they were very careful. I said, ‘Sure, have him contact me.’ And he did. We spoke. Basically he made a… he cried on the phone,” Disney’s CEO Bob Iger revealed in 2019.

Iger further added that “it was clear that he cared so much and actually we care a lot about him. He’s a great Spider-Man. I actually felt for him, and it was clear that the fans wanted this to happen. So after I got off the phone with him I made a couple of phone calls to our team at Disney Studios and then I decided to call the head of Sony and I said, ‘We gotta figure out a way to get this done.’ For Tom and for the fans.”